Missing
by KathleenMcdempsey
Summary: more realistic version of Gone Missing. Meredith and Derek's now have a 4 year old daughter, Emma shannon shepherd. On her first day of kindergarten she disappears, how do Meredith and Derek cope? what will Derek do?
1. Chapter 1

_**Ok so as some of you will know this is an edited, hopefully better version of GONE MISSING, when I was reading gone missing, in order to finish it, I realized just how atrocious it was and so decide to redo the whole story. So this is not me leaving the story unfinished but after months of absence redoing it. Please note: The storyline may change which is why I'm starting it as a whole new story for the reader I will gain, thank you. For the readers who will sit and reread this until I get to where I left off, you are stars.**_

"Morning," Meredith yawned as she walked into the kitchen in her black jeans and a simple green v-necked sweater. She was tired after working so late last night, but she had promised her 4 year old daughter she would take her to her first day of Kindergarten and her internal clock had woke her up at 5.15 so instead of going back to sleep she had gotten up.

Derek looked up from the paper he was reading. His hair was still tousled from sleep and he was still in his pyjama. He had a cup of coffee sitting on the island next to him. He gave a small smile before lying the Seattle times down on the island, "Morning Mer, you look exhausted." He gave her a kiss as she leant down before adding, "You could've slept in if you wanted, and we only have to be there at 8. I'm not even dressed and Emma isn't awake."

Meredith sat down in the chair next to Derek's as Derek got up and headed towards the coffee machine, "and miss out on seeing the excitement on our daughters face when you rise her? I don't think so. Beside I woke up shortly after you got up." She took a sip from Derek's coffee as he poured her a cup of her own coffee, he was used to her stealing sip of his coffee in the morning until he either brought her a cup or she worked up the energy to get her own. Derek didn't mind it, in fact he did it too if she was in the kitchen before him, "I thought you would've stayed in bed longer, after all you got a long day ahead of you after we drop Emma off. I'm coming home and slipping into bed afterward and sleeping until 2 then I'm going to go pick up our daughter"

Derek handed her the cup of coffee and sat down across from her." Mer you could've slept another hour, we agreed we would wake her at 7, I wanted to make pancakes, it's a special day for Emma and I didn't buy a box of premixed batter so I had to start from scratch this morning."

"Thank you. I'll sleep this morning after dropping her off for now and drinking this coffee will do just fine.' Derek rested his hand on top of her hand staring at his wife as she took a sip of her own coffee. "Your homemade batter pancakes are always the best.

Meredith loved Derek's cooking, even more than Izzie's and it had been for that reason that they had hosted the last thanksgiving dinner. Derek was not like Izzie's and did not always enjoy cooking, he kept the entertaining to a minimum and that was more Izzie forte but he couldn't argue that thanksgiving was a time for family and when they could not make it to new York for thanksgiving he did not mind doing dinner for the Seattle family, if he didn't do thanksgiving Dinner, he pitched in with Christmas dinner as those were the years they went to new York for Thanksgiving. It swopped every year so that they worked at least one of the holiday. He, however much preferred cooking for his wife and Daughter only

Of course they are, they have a lot less preservatives in and are much healthier," Derek smiled

"Health Nut, through and through." Meredith smiled, sipping her coffee

"You've got to admit though I've eaten a fair bit of sweets since I met you." Derek said as he pressed a kiss to Meredith hand.

"It's good to have the occasional sweet, Derek, keeps you young." Meredith smirked "and Besides Emma really the one who gets you to open up your sweet tooth, not me."

"Yes you, if I count the number of times, I've licked Chocolate off of you; my health nut tendency would be hitting me continuously for disobeying them." Derek said as he leant down to kiss her

"Sex does not count Derek," Meredith swatted him on the chest giggling. "You work off the calories in the act of eating them up."

Derek stood up and walked around to the other side of the island; He leant against the island and whispered into his wife's ear, "Sex always counts Meredith. Always, especially when it's with you."

"We're are not having sex now, you have pancakes to make for our 4 year old daughter, whose upstairs." Meredith said as she kissed him on the nose.

Meredith and Derek's relationship was as strong as it had been when they first got married, having a daughter had only ensured that Meredith and Derek got their walls insulated at the house in the forest, they had taught her that she needed to knock before coming into their room so that they were able to ensure they were fully clothed and not in an awkward position when she came in and because of this, they had successfully managed to avoid any awkward question about their sex life or any case of explaining the birds and the bees. However the use of bad language was a discussion they had not managed to avoid as with their friends, she had heard a couple. Meredith and Derek had explained that sometimes adults forget and are naughty and use bad word and that it did not make it ok for her to use them. Now she would point out their errors like any child did.

"Fine but tonight..." Derek said seductively, Meredith giggled and kissed him in a message of agreement before Derek added in a more serious tone, "I think it was a good idea to stay here last night." Meredith and Derek had kept her old house when they had moved to Bainbridge. For the first couple of years the house was filled with her colleagues and when they finally moved out. Meredith and Derek realized that when one of them had a late or early shift they stayed at the house and decided to keep it for that purpose. The time they spent at the house was slowly diminishing as Meredith hours began to slowly get a little more reasonable as she neared the end of her residency and they were beginning to think about selling the house as the cost of keeping it clean compared to the time they stayed here were enormous and a bit unreasonable. They had someone who came and cleaned there once a week and since they on average stayed there for 12 hours every two weeks it was becoming irrational.

"Yeah it was, if we had stayed at Bainbridge, I would've had to drive the long route around and I'm not sure I would've managed. I barely found the energy to drive here." This on the other hand was why they kept the house. Meredith had debated between coming home and staying at the hospital and catching a few winks in an on call room before sneaking back home early in the morning. Coming home had ultimately won the argument as she slept better in her own bed with Derek than in an on-call room. However if Derek and Emma had gone home to Bainbridge she would've gone with the latter option, "Go make the Pancakes Derek." Meredith said as he continued leaning against the island. "I'm sure the batters ready, you were up at like 4 this morning."

Derek checked his watch, it was 5:45 am, "Yip, it was ready 15 minutes ago," He walked towards the fridge, "4 is not all that early, especially when I went to bed at 9."

"Yeah well some of us weren't so lucky, I climbed into bed at 1 this morning, I've had 3 1/2 hours sleep so 4 is early ok? Was Emma mad that I wasn't home last night?" Meredith asked. She was only supposed to have worked till 7 but an emergency had kept her back for another five and a half hours, normally both she and Derek would've been waylaid at the hospital with an emergency but Derek had left at 3 that afternoon taking Emma home with him. Meredith was glad he had because only one of them needed to stay last night and Emma needed a full night sleep in her own bed in her own home not in the bed they had put in Derek's office.

"No, just worried that you wouldn't be home in time today but I reassured her you would." Derek said pausing mid stride and turning around to look at his wife. They tried to keep their night shifts to a minimum so that Emma could have as normal childhood as possible but sometimes they were unavoidable due to their careers when they both worked night shift they would put her in the office and one of the admitting people whom sat at the nurses' station just left of his office would watch the door going in to check on her every 30 minutes, and they would check up on her whenever they had a chance or if it was possible they arranged with one of their friends to take Emma home with them and they stored a little night bag in Derek or Meredith's office. They were currently petitioning for night staff in the day-care as Meredith did not want Emma to grow up with a nanny, When one of them worked night shifts, the other took Emma home but on those nights she fussed about everything and was not the best behaved child on the block, she refused to settle down, determined to wait until the other parent got home and it would be late at night when she did fall asleep, "But surprisingly she actually settled down when I put her to bed at 8."

"I promised her though." Meredith said downhearted as her thoughts strayed to the fact that she hadn't been home to help Emma bath and get ready for bed. She had given her daughter a kiss though Emma would not have known this as she was immersed in dreamland

"Mer, she knew that deep down she knew that you wouldn't break your promise because you have never broken a promise you made towards Em, she just doesn't like it when we both not here you know that, it's why we keep night shift to a minimum."

"I know." Meredith sighed.

Derek walked back over to Meredith and kissed her, "Just because you work the occasional night shift it does not make you your mother, mer. Ok? You here for her first day ok?" They had put Meredith doubts to rest along time but occasionally they popped up. She hadn't been sure about Emma when she had found out she was pregnant, however Derek had always wanted children so the thoughts of an abortion had been kicked far away from her mind. Derek had seen her doubts though and after prodding her about it, had come to the realization of how scared she was to be a mother. How scared she was that she'd screw up. Derek put all his effort into helping her to see what others saw, that well she very much resembled her mother on the outside and had inherited her mother's skill; her heart was in no way similar to Ellis'. This had been proved with the smile that had lit up her features when Addison had put their daughter in her arm. It had been Meredith that had given Emma her first name as she looked at her daughter. Derek knew the doubts would pop up occasionally although admittedly they hadn't popped up for almost a year.

Meredith kissed her husband again and said, "I know that but I'm so scared I'll turn into her. That I'll get so caught up in my career that when I finally stop to look, I will have pushed you away and missed half of my daughter's childhood. My mom wasn't always a bad mother, the first thing she missed was my first day of kindergarten and I'm sure she was already having an affair by then,"

"I promise you, I'm not about to let you push me away again and there is no way you'll turn into your mother, because if you even turned down the road, you have a couple things that would force you to re-evaluate the trip, things she didn't have ." Derek said pulling her into a standing position and wrapping his arms around her." First of all, you have all the things that made me' fall in love with you," Derek kissed his wife's forehead, "you're kind," Kiss." You're Compassionate." Kiss. "You're loving." Kiss. "And secondly you have me and I'll be an unwavering force that won't allow you to travel down the Ellis road."

It was Meredith turned to initiate a kiss and she turned softly in her husband's arm and captured his mouth with her own. When they came up for air she snuggled in his Embrace and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They stayed like that few minutes before Meredith pushed him slightly "Go make the Pancakes, you still have to shower."

"Yes Ma'am," Derek chuckled as he untangled his arms from around his wife, he leant down giving her one last kiss. Meredith sat down and opened up the paper.

Derek walked to the fridge and had just open it when, "I can help make the pancakes if you want, so you can go shower sooner." Meredith said flicking through the paper, As Derek paused, his hands gripping the bowl of batter and tried to retain his laughter, before Derek could give an answer or burst out into answer Meredith commented on the daily News. "You know all this paper is filled with is death and destruction."

The laughter Derek was trying to hold burst out just then as he opened his mouth to speak. Meredith put the paper down and mock-glared at her husband.

"Derek, it's not funny. Can't the paper have something else besides all the woes and worries of life?" Meredith said pouting as she ignored the real reason Derek was laughing.

"Meredith I think we both know that is not why I'm laughing." Derek said pulling the bowl out of the fridge and shutting the door. "I love you, I really love your many talents but cooking is not one of your many talents Mer and I don't think the house on fire would be a great start to Emma's first day of kindergarten."

"Hey, I can cook. And I've never started a fire. I've burnt stuff yes but a fire no."" Meredith said, she walked up to her husband and gave him a slap around the neck.

"Ouch Mer, "Derek said putting the bowl down and pulling her into his arms so that she couldn't slap him again even if the slaps didn't really hurt when they were playing around. "You can cook simple dishes like pasta sometimes but you can't cook pancakes, Mer I'm sorry." The hint of a laugh was still in his voice. Meredith had learned to cook small dishes when Emma was born but other than that didn't know any other dishes that required the use of a stove or oven, those dishes she left to Derek, every now and again hinting at helping in the kitchen, the argument always ending the same. "And I'm guessing it was an impersonator who started that small fire 6 year s ago." The fight Meredith was putting up against his arm stilled and she turned around to face her husband

Their sexual escapades had literally caused a fire seven years ago. Meredith had decided that she wanted boiled eggs and because no one else was home had decided to do it herself. After all, she had thought, it couldn't be that hard it was waiting until the water boiled and then putting the egg in and waiting +/- 10 minutes until it was cooked, except she hadn't even put the egg in, when the fire had started. She was sitting reading by the island waiting for the water to boil when Derek had come in after a long shift and began kissing her, the next thing she consciously thought about was the sound of the fire alarm, she and Derek had pulled apart looking for the source, finding it by the stove. Ever since that incident, Derek's teasing had gotten ten times worse, Derek smirked time after time and brought it up every time they had a debate over her cooking. She was a 100% convinced though that if Derek hadn't distracted her, she would've been fine and had a perfectly good egg and they always argued about it. Derek saying she wouldn't, Meredith saying she would have.

. "That was because you distracted me Derek and I kind of forgot about the water I was boiling , that was completely your fault, you came in the kitchen and kissed me and when I'd tried to protest and tell you I had to watch the water, you just kissed harder and became more persistent, that was totally your fault, if you hadn't come in their so determined to have sex it would've been fine but instead you kissed and you rubbed until coherent thought was barely-"

Derek turned kissed her stopping her mid sentence ," You rambling again love, how was I suppose to know you'd suddenly decide to cook and you didn't say anything, I only realized you were cooking when the fire alarm began blaring but you admit you were cooking when that fire started then?"

"Yes I was but that doesn't count, if you hadn't distracted me the fire wouldn't have started, I promise you, if I come into the kitchen and try to get you to react you'd also forget."

"I so wouldn't." Derek said.

"One of these days I'm going to prove you wrong Derek Shepherd." Meredith said jabbing her finger into his chest.

Derek kissed her just then and he kissed again and moved his hands upwards along her body but Meredith pushed him away and said, " Changing the subject are we?, I thought you had pancakes to make?"

Derek sighed, looked down and said with a hint of frustration, "not changing the subject just attempting to get to the end quicker, the end which we are continuing tonight when Emma's in bed." "He knew he would never get the pancakes done and showered if he divulged in the temptation this morning but now he would have to go about the pancakes with an uncomfortable tightness in his pants.

"Maybe." Was all Meredith said nonchalantly ending the conversation her face saying "definitely", she pushed him towards the stove, "Go make those pancakes,"

"Bossy."

They worked in silence for a few minute, Derek beginning to make pancakes and Meredith reading the morning paper. The sizzling oil and the flipping of newspaper was the only sound s that flitted from the kitchen at 6.10 that morning.

"So what can I do to help?" Meredith asked 20 minutes later as she lay the paper down. The scent of the pancakes had drifted into her nose and her mouth had begun watering as she smelled her husband cooking. She honestly knew she wasn't a good cook but she always had fun playing with her husband when it came to cooking. In fact she had fun with him most of the time.

"Nothing to do with cooking, that's for sure." Derek flipped a pancake

"Derek..." Meredith exclaimed frustrated, "You know I don't mean that."

Derek looked up and smirked as he laid the last pancake on the plate topped up, "I'm not so sure about that..." Meredith glared at him and he said "you could set the table please."

"Not until you admit I'm not a bad cook!" Meredith said folding her arms and decided to increase the level of playing when it came to her cooking.

Derek smirked back at her moving the plate to the warmer draw, " you ask if you can help and when I give you something to do, you set conditions, that not fair Meredith. "

"Well if you don't admit that I can cook, I won't do your favourite things tonight." Meredith said stepping it up and smirking back at her husband as he shut the warmer draw.

"You wouldn't... "Derek said straightening up, "I know you just playing games."

"Do you want to bet on that honey?" Meredith asked looking pointedly at Derek.

"I...Derek hesitated suddenly unsure, on the one hand she always played game willingly when it came to cooking and never followed through on her threats when it came to them joking about her cooking abilities. But on the other hand she was never known to be predictable and she could very well follow through, so he decided to go midway, he walked towards her. "Ok I admit you can cook." He said giving her a kiss and then he walked to the door and mumbled "Small dishes like pasta." Just loud enough so that she could hear as her smile turned to a frown

"I heard that." Meredith said

Derek paused at the door and turned back to look at her, "But you still going to take out the cutlery and condiments."

Meredith walked towards the cupboards, pulling out the syrup and sugar as she said, "How did you know?"

"Because you love our daughter?" He responded leaning against the door and watching her for a minute.

"That is true. Just remember this does not mean you're getting sex tonight." Meredith said smirking. She took out the cinnamon and then took out a little spice shaker. Meredith walked to the counter she opened the spice bottle.

"If you say so," Derek shrugged before pushing away from the door and heading towards their bedroom, to shower and get dressed.

Meredith knew that the self confidence, cocky person that had just walked out the kitchen was sure he was getting sex but she would make him sweat it out. She finished putting the sugar and cinnamon In the bottle before shaking it up and laying it on the table. She then laid the rest of the table and sat back down at the island and finished her coffee.

Derek laughed to himself as he walked up to their bedroom, He wasn't going to take the sex threat, too seriously yet, if he had teased his wife about anything but cooking he would. Because if he had teased his wife about any of her other abilities, there was a good chance the threat would be sleeping on the couch and that she would follow through with it.

**So that's the 1****st**** revised chapter, it's a little different to that of the original version, so read review and shower the love or hate upon me. Let me know what you think. I'm in matric; my last year of school so I'm making no promises to when I next update you saw what happened last time. I said 2 weeks and it took a year. So…**


	2. Chapter 2

YOU MIGHT FIND THE DISCUSSION AT THE BEGINNING A LITTLE IRRELEVANT TO THE PLOT BUT in SOME WAYS IT IS VERY RELEVANT EVEN IF IT WAYLAYS THE STORY A BIT

Izzie's old room at the Queen Anne hill home had become Emma's bedroom when Alex and Izzie had moved out. Because they seldom stayed there, very little had changed except for the fact that there was a twin sized bed instead of a double bed in the centre of the room. Another difference was that instead of the cupboard pack full to the brim with adult girly clothes, it now possessed one outfit and a couple of toy.

There was one photo that decorated the walls and that along with the empty cupboards supported selling the house as it put emphasis on the lack of personal item they kept there. The lack of personal items in turn was just more evidence to the lack of time they spent there.

Meredith and Derek were chatting about selling the house, as they sat on the loveseat in the lounge waiting until exactly 7 to go up and wake their daughter in her room. The TV was displaying a series of commercial but Meredith and Derek were paying no attention to them as they chatted.

"But we have to look at nights like last night. You said yourself you barely made it back here and in that case you wouldn't have made it back to Bainbridge, I don't want you having an accident Mere because you trying to get home at 2 or 3 in the morning." Derek said as he shifted to look directly in her eyes. He was dressed in Black trousers and a blue button down shirt.

"Derek I wouldn't have driven to Bainbridge last night. I would've caught an hour's sleep before catching the four am ferry this morning. I would've been back in time to wake Emma up. We've done it before and besides if today weren't Emma first day at school, we would've stayed at Bainbridge. You would've gone to the island at 3 and when the emergency came in at 6, it would have been too much hassle for you to come all the way back just to sleep here." Meredith tried to explain putting her elbow against the back of the couch and leaning her head against her hand as she returned his glower. "This place is basically a hotel, Derek, I know for me it doesn't feel like home anymore, I'm more relaxed on the island than I've ever been here. We barely have any of our personal things here and the cost of Maintaining is extremely expensive for the time we spend here."

"But Meredith, if we keep this house, we closer to the hospital when one of us is working the night shift and we can get to the house quickly if there's an emergency like Emma being sick."

"Derek if we going to use that to support our argument, than this argument should be about making this our house and Bainbridge a vacation place because I'm sure both of us is proficient enough to look after a sick child for a few hour without the other. If she needed to get to the hospital however it would then be a problem to be on Bainbridge. Because it takes us 50 minutes to get to the hospital between 11 am and 3.30 am as the ferry isn't running and it takes us 10 minutes to get to the hospital from here and we have to face the facts that the urgency of the matter is not going to change whether one parent or two parents are there." Meredith didn't want to make Queen Anne hill their home, it had never felt like home to her, it had too many bad memories attached but she needed Derek to see that his argument was not practical. In reality she hope there would never be an emergency getting Emma to the hospital but if there was they could call 911 and if it was extremely serious they would send a helicopter.

Derek opened his mouth and then shut it, Meredith had just made a good point but he did not want to give up Bainbridge, maybe he had been stupid in making the house on the island their permanent resident, but how come they had never brought this reason up before, never thought of it. As he opened his mouth to say something the Jingle that introduced the 7 o clock news began playing and instead of saying what he wanted to say, he withdrew his arm from around Meredith said, "We need to talk about this in more detail when I get home from work, maybe we need to make this our permanent resident."

When Meredith realized that Derek was actually considering make Queen Anne Hill their home and was about to go on some guilt trip she gripped his hand "Derek I wasn't saying that, all I was saying is that your argument isn't practical, if Emma got seriously sick, and hopefully she never does, we'd call 911 and they would send a helicopter okay. They do that with all emergencies on Bainbridge."

"We need to go wake Emma up." Derek said standing up only to be jolted down by Meredith.

"No you don't get to avoid having this discussion, we can let Emma sleep for a few more minutes; we are not making this our permanent resident." Meredith said regretting making the earlier comment about the cons to staying on Bainbridge. Derek as well as she had a tendency to avoid thje difference is while Meredith literally avoided the topic, Derek always did it in the form of changing the subject and/or lashing out.

"Meredith I promise I'm not avoiding this discussion but we need to discuss this properly and a few minutes is not enough time to do so. We can talk about this, this evening." Derek recognized they had never truly talked their living arrangement out. He realized it was urgent that they talk and make a permanent decision.

Meredith considered her husband knowing that he had a good point, this discussion could not be talked out in a few minute but they needed to make a decision, instead of leaving it up in the air like they had. "Ok, you're right but we must talk this evening and make a decision." She consented

"Ok, I promise." He said softly and stood up again pulling Meredith up with him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they strolled towards the stairs, "Let's go wake Em up, she going to be a jumping jack this morning."

Meredith smiled, today was bittersweet, their daughter was going to Kindergarten which was a major stepping stone but it also meant she was getting older, " She's starting kindergarten today. There was a pause as they dwelled on the details of that. They progressed up the stairs in silence and just before reaching the landing Meredith spoke again, "Derek?"

"Hmmm," Derek said softly

"She's ready right?"'

"Mere of course, Kindergarten is basically day-care except for the fact that there are new people, Emma is not a shy person, and she'll be fine." Derek said as he stepped onto the top landing.

"But Derek we have to let her be a child, she needs to be able to come to us when she's scared, I wasn't able to do that with my mom and I turned out all dark and twisty and messed up because of it, we can't let her feel like that." Derek stilled his walking pulling Meredith into a hug. Today was obviously reawakening a lot of memory from her childhood and making the doubts pop out. Derek didn't like that she still doubted herself but understood that at least she was letting him in, allowing him to squish them before they became cancerous, making her doubt even more.

"You turned out beautiful Meredith despite your parents but of course she's going to be able to come to us, she can come to us when she 40. I don't ever want her to think she can't." .

"Ok," Meredith said in way of recognition that she had heard his reply and had processed it

Derek kissed Meredith forehead, he pushed Meredith gently and she settled back into his arm as they walked the last few steps towards their daughter's "room", they stood in the doorway for a few minute watching their daughter whom was curled up in a ball in the centre of her bed the blankets scrawled around her form. She was clutching onto her teddy bear,

Derek added, "But we have to draw a line between being parents who care and overbearing because she won't grow, if we stop her from exploring.'

"With reason, I'm not about to let her climb a mountain or even let her date a boy just yet."

"Now that not happening until she's at least 40." Derek asserted.

Meredith giggled, he was like every father, not ready to ever let their daughter date but he would changes his mind after a lot of convincing from Emma of that Meredith was sure." Derek that falls into the category of "overbearing"."

"Well than that I'm going to be overbearing about, she can explore other things." Derek stated. As if in protest Emma gave a loud snore out of sync from the normal song

Meredith chuckled at the look of determination on his face and the shift in the sound of her daughters snores, "I think Em disagree with you Derek."

"Yeah well we can revisited it in a few year but I promise you I won't have changed my mind." Derek said as he moved towards the bed. Meredith moved towards the curtains pulling one open and then proceeding to open the other.

Derek settled at the foot of the bed and gently shook Emma's shoulders as Meredith moved towards the closet watching out the corner of her eyes, . "Em-bear, it's time to wake up."

Meredith pulled out two hangers and shut the door as their daughter stretched and yawned, before lying flat on her back she blinked once and again and then rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the new level of light that was now entering into them. "Morning, Mommy and daddy." She said as the disorientation from waking up began to disappear.

"Good Morning Em," Derek and Meredith said simultaneously, Derek leaning down to give his daughter a kiss on the forehead.

Meredith sat down on the bed, next to her husband and was bounced as Emma realized what day it is.

"It my first day of school." Emma exclaimed, jumping up in bed.

Meredith chuckled, she had been expecting that reaction from her daughter, she pulled Em onto her lap "Yes Em, it is but you still can't jump on the bed and I don't remember getting my morning kiss..." Meredith said as she gave her daughter a few tickles.

Emma giggles as she reached up to kiss her mommy on the nose. 'And daddy made you a special breakfast this morning."

"Pancakes!" Emma shrieked.

Derek had expected his daughter to ask" what it was?" so he was shocked when she deduced it immediately "Inside voice Emma but yes I made pancake, how did you guess?" Derek said.

"Coz daddy you don't make waffles, you sway it too unhealthy so it could only be pancake." Emma said bluntly as she shifted on her mommy's lap..

Meredith laughed, "She knows you too well Daddy."

"Hey I do make waffles." Derek objected

"You only made it once Derek, when Emma had just turned three." Meredith said. Emma wouldn't remember it but Emma had fallen and had hurt herself really badly and when Derek had asked if she wanted some Ice cream to calm her down that evening she had asked if they could please have waffles. Meredith knew Derek would have normally said no but after having to clean up the wounds on her knees and hand, he had instantly said yes. Emma even persuaded him to have half of her waffle.

"You know what I'll make waffles tomorrow then, I make waffles ok, Good waffles." Derek protested, his wife and daughter always ganged up on him about his health nut tendency and he always had to prove them wrong when they did. Meredith knew this so when she wanted something unhealthy like chips or waffles, she teased him about his health tendency and most of the time he made it especially if Emma was backing her up. Derek loved both of them so the teasing honestly didn't matter to him and the fact that he got to make something for the people he loved was compensation for the fact that it was unhealthy. The look on his wife face when she ate it: priceless. Especially because he put it there. And anyway he made other healthy stuff for them.

"Yay, "Emma again shrieked.

" Inside voice Emma," Meredith reminded her daughter before turning to her husband to tease him "Why not, tonight? Trying to think of a reason not too?"

"No of course not Mere, but I made pancake this morning so I want to make something healthier tonight."

"Ok, fair enough.' Meredith said leaning over too kiss him on the cheek . "I'll give you that."

"Of course you will," Derek said kissing her on the nose." Because you love me and you get pancakes and waffles in 2 consecutive days."

"No I could get that on the same day if I want, I'd just go to the cafe across the road from the hospital and order them as takeaways." Meredith whispered in his ear

"Now you get them for free and they-"Before Derek could finish, Emma interrupted them upset that she was suddenly being ignored, she had been busying herself with examining Meredith hair, she "accidentally" tugged to hard at her mommy's hair in an effort to get her attention

"Ow." Meredith grunted she turned away from Derek and looked at her daughter, " Emma that was sore,."

"I didn't mean to pull to hard mommy," Emma said half truthfully because she didn't want to hurt her mommy. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok Em." Meredith said giving her a hug. " Why don't we get you dressed and go down for breakfast."

Derek took the clothes off the hanger as Em nodded, "Can I wear my flower Alice band in my hair, mommy?"

Emma was referring to a an Alice band which was decorated with white beaded flowers surrounded by black beads that Arizona and Callie had brought for her last year when they had gone to South Africa, Meredith plonked her daughter on the bed before standing up and turning towards her "I don't think we brought it with Em," Meredith said as she pulled Emma nighty off her head. She had only packed a simple blue pony and her purple heart Alice band.

"Mere I packed it," Derek handed her Em's purple t-shirt that had a heart on it; He was starting to see Meredith point now. It was easier to stay at one house and that way all their stuff was there.

"Yay, can I wear it mommy?" Emma said as she jumped up and down slightly.

"Yes Em, I don't see why not but you need to settle down so that you can get dressed, otherwise we won't be able to have breakfast, Arms up."

Derek pulled out Emma's Hannah Montana night bag and started folding and packing her Pyjama's as Meredith finished dressing Em in her blue jeans, she finished it off with a Purple cardigan.

"Come let's go do your hair." Meredith said knowing they were heading in to an almighty task with her hair, it was extremely curly and therefore it was always mission impossible when it came to getting the knots out, Meredith had one whole make up bag that had Emma hair stuff which she kept with Emma's Night bag. She had duplicates of the Hair stuff sitting at home on her Dressing table so that they didn't have to pack it each morning in case of an emergency at the hospital because if they didn't have the hair stuff, Emma would not let them anywhere near her hair after she had been asleep because it was so full of knots.

"I'll do it this morning Mere," Derek said as he grabbed Emma's hands and swung her off the bed, Emma giggled which warmed Derek's heart as always, he put her down on the floor and turned to look at Mer, who was smiling at them. "Meanwhile can you get me that thing out the cupboard please and bring it down to the table with you. It next to your thing."

"Ok." Meredith knew he was referring to the present for Emma that they had stacked in their closet, she leant down and gave Emma a hug saying "Em, I'm gonna leave you in your daddy's capable ok?"

"Mommy, daddy's the only boy i ever going to let near my hair." Emma declared as Derek ruffled through the bag.

"Why Emma?' Meredith leant against the doorframe and saw the smile of proud that was pasted on his face.

*"Because Uncle Alex hurt me the other day and Aunt Izzie said that boys don't know how to do hair that I must always ask a girl and I tell her that she was wrong that daddy does my hair very nice and she tell me that that's ok but that he was the one boy I could ask and then she muttered something about hair products I don't know what she was on about mommy. "Emma said talking so fast that it took them awhile to process what exactly she was talking about when they did Meredith giggled and Derek frowned knowing exactly what Izzie had been implying when she said "Hair Products".

"Aunt Izzie's a little crazy, Em there times when even I don't know what she's talking about."

"Derek." Meredith Exclaimed,

"What?" He smiled as he applied the Revlon- No knots** to his daughter's hair.

"That not very nice." She exclaimed pushing off the door to go and get the presents out the closet.

"Whatever. " Emma giggled at Derek's response and Derek could even hear Meredith Laughing down the hall

Derek picked up the brush and said to his daughter, "OK Em, I'm going to use the brush now."

Derek never started brushing his daughter's hair until he had warned her knowing that Emma always felt pain no matter how mush products they had lathered within her hair. No matter how gentle they were, there were usually some knots they had to be a lot more tougher with to get out.

"Ok," There was a pause before Emma asked, "Daddy what's in your drawer?"

"Why don't we finish with your hair and then we can go downstairs and find out?" Derek said as he pulled the brush gently through a strand of hair.

**Ok this was first written at the end of season 5. And I'm going to keep it as such, which means Izzie still there, she's married to Alex. George went off to the army. Character such as Teddy, April, Jackson and Ben/Eli will not appear as they only appeared after season 5. That being said it also means that Bailey has just gotten a divorce. However I'm not ruling out an appearance in the Sequel. Also I know I mentioned a present that Emma got when Calzona went to Africa, as far as we go here Arizona did not receive any sort of grant, she went to Malawi not South Africa, so that was purely for the holiday experience. I chose S.A as it is where i live; i also have a Alice Band like Emma except its indigo and black which I brought in Howick. The Alice Bands are part of the traditional art of Africans which is intricate beading and Beading can also be found in rings, all sorts of jewellery, skirts and much more. Ok so writing this i realized this could turn out very different from the original in that well the main idea and plot will mostly be the same, the way in which they are portrayed and pieced together has change. *There is no punctuation in Emma's speech because I wanted to portray how fast she was going and no punctuation is the perfect method to show it. Any other punctuation mistakes are my fault as I don't have a beta reader. That being said I'm looking for anyone who is interested on taking on the role of a beta reader as I know my punctuation is bad, I would also like input on the realism of my story as it progresses as it will begin to get a lot less fluffy from around chapter 4 and 5, I did not manage to portray this very well though and I wanted to master the angst. As you guys can be much see I also take a while to update. I'm not going to lie, I have to prioritize school, so updates depend on the amount of work going on at school as well as the shifts I take on at work.**

**** I don't know each and every hair product so I made one up.**

"


	3. Chapter 3

"Mommy, what was in daddy's cupboard?" Emma inquired upon seeing Meredith walking into the kitchen.

Derek looked up from where he was putting condiments on Emma and Meredith's pancakes. His wife was holding a big bag behind her back.

"I think we have something for you." Meredith answered pulling the bag out in front of her.

"I got presents?" Emma jumped up and down on her chair and leaned against the table.

"Of course you did Em; it's your first day at kindergarten, you're a big girl now." Derek said as he put the plates on the table.

Meredith pulled out a present and handed the bag to Derek, "This is from Mommy, open it."

The Present was wrapped in "Phineas and Ferb" Wrapping paper and was shaped rectangular. Emma tried to take the paper off gently like grandma Carolyn had taught her, but she ended up tearing it slightly by the length of the space case and so she turned to Meredith, She had been watching her daughter and knew when she wanted help she'd ask " Please can you help me open it ike nana show me?

"Sure, we always look for the shortest side first remember?" Emma turned the present and found the shortest side of the present, she pointed at the width of the space case, "Here Mommy."

Derek pulled out the Camera and Snapped a shot as Meredith crouched next to Emma, helping her with the wrapping paper, Meredith looked up and flashed him a small smile but Emma was so busy concentrating on the task that she didn't notice.

"Yes and then we try to take off the sticky tape off gently. Sometime we can kind of slide our fingers under, like this." Meredith did it gently. " Ok why don't you do the other side Em?"

Emma took the present from Meredith and shifted it to the other side and gently did what her mom had shown her, it was luckily also a side that Meredith had done lightly with the sticky tape, so the wrapping paper came off easily, she pulled the gift out the wrapping paper examining it, she beamed.

"Look daddy, mommy got me a pace case with Hannah Montana on..." Emma said showing him.

Meredith smiled as Emma passed it to Derek, "Emma I think there's something else in there as well."

Derek shook it as it entered into his hands and it made a sound as the objects within clanged together, "I think Mommy's right Em."

"Well of course daddy there stationary, like mommy and you have." Emma had seen Meredith space case when she was in the Study playing while both she and Derek worked on something that had to be emailed that night, it was one of the few times Emma had been there as Meredith and Derek rarely did Paperwork until Emma was asleep preferring instead to spend time with her.

"Well Em, why don't we look at it, ok?" Meredith asked she wanted her daughter to see it, she had gone out and brought regular pencil and then had them wrapped with a SpongeBob design instead of getting the one the store had as she didn't like them and then she had gone and brought the wax crowns which were wrapped with a High school musical design and then Cristina had given her a pack of colouring pencil which had scrubs and doctor coats on them. The sharpener had a picture of Handy Mandy and friends and the Eraser was wrapped in power puff girl stuff. Meredith had tried to incorporate all her daughters' favourite shows in to the space case already knowing what Derek had gotten her. She had brought name tags as well and had spent Friday night when Derek was on call, putting the name tags on them and packing them in the space case before wrapping it.

"Ok Mommy, daddy I have space case back now, please?" Emma asked holding out her hand to Derek, Derek handed it back to her, smiling at the excitement that danced within Emma all morning.

She opened it up and the smile on Derek's face widen as he grasped his wife's hand.

Meredith leant down next to her daughter and showed her the stationary when she reached the colouring pencil, she said. "Aunty Cristina got that for you and asked me to give it to you."

Emma looked at her space case for a few more seconds even the tray inside her space case was decorated with wizard of Waverly place she put it gently aside and said. "Mommy, all my favourite show. It's cool mommy and it's got my name on, so everyone know it's mine." Emma said as she read the tag, Emma had always had to put her stuff somewhere at day care and had hence learned to recognize her name fairly early, she was yet to write it and that would be another story to be told in a year.

"Emma what do you say to mommy for the gift?" Derek asked as he put the wrapping paper into the bag that Meredith had brought down and looked at his present.

"Thank you mommy", Emma said giving her a kiss on her cheek,

"It's a pleasure Em," Meredith said hugging her.

Derek pulled out a big present from the plastic bag and handed it to his daughter, it was wrapped in pictures from Shrek. Emma had watched Shrek from when she was 5 month. It was her favourite movie when she was a baby and it kept her entertained. He shifted so he was next to his daughter.

"Daddy, where do I start, there no short ide?" Emma said as she picked it up gently. Derek pointed at the top where he had folded a triangle, "Here Em bear, if you can't find a short side, you look for the shortest piece of sticky tape."

Emma pulled at the sticky tape and edged it off the paper she unfolded the paper, "Now do i open this ide?" Emma pointed at the bottom where the sticky tape was slightly longer and Derek had folded it such that the folded over bit resembled a rectangle. Derek nodded and leant over her helping her slip off the sticky tape, each going from an opposite side, Meredith took the Camera from where Derek had put it and snapped the photo as they unfolded the paper together, this time Emma did notice and both she and Derek looked up giving such dazzling smiles that Meredith snapped another photo.

Derek quickly helped Emma finish unwrapping the present and Emma pulled out a small school Bag that had a picture of Finding Nemo on it. She turned around and look at her daddy giving him a hug, "Thank you Daddy."

Derek returned the hug, "It's a pleasure sweet heart, all of this you going to use for school ok and I got you a lunch box ok?"

"Yes Daddy, during first snack I must eat from my tub right?"

"Yes Em and at second snack time, Teacher Clare will give you a cookie or something like at day-care." Derek liked making his daughter her own lunch. It a) saved money and b) he felt it was healthier. He understood that his daughter was still a child though and it would be unfair to her that she was the only one who wouldn't get a cookie. Meredith understood how Derek felt. Although on days where he was on call the previous night, Derek and Meredith had decided that those could be "Cafeteria days", that was not to say that Meredith would never make lunches for Emma, in fact Meredith and Derek had decided to alternate days from tomorrow on who did what each morning. Tomorrow Meredith would Rouse Emma and get her ready, while Derek made breakfast and Lunches and vice versa on the following days that was depending on how early each got up. It was also not to say that they couldn't adjust the routine to suit their needs, in fact it was almost guaranteed that they would.

"I'm going to put this away and then we can eat ok?" Meredith grabbed the space case packing it in the bag and then walked to the fridge to get Emma's Lunchbox. "Emma, remember if you use a Crayon or something you put it back in the space case ok and if you let someone borrow that's ok too as long as you get it back."

"Yes mommy." Emma said as Derek sliced her pan cake into bite size pieces.

"And if the teacher gives you crayons or whatever leave your space case in the bag ok?" Meredith knew that in some cases the teacher preferred that the children used the schools crayons and Meredith could certainly see why and the principal had said as much to them, he had also added that well the table were arranged in groups, they were singular units so us to teach the kids responsibility for his/her stuff so that when they did use their own stationary they were less likely to lose it.

"I know Momma." Emma said picking up a piece of the pancake.

Meredith re-joined them at the table and Derek smiled up at her. " Em we're just making sure you remember everything."

"I do, all time daddy, you say kinter garden is like day care with all new people. I'm a big girl now I don't need remembers."

"Reminders Em and even adults need reminders." Meredith her fork halfway to her mouth

"NO i don't." Emma said

Derek burst out laughing, "Oh Is that so? I think mommy just reminded you about the word reminder didn't she?"

Emma put another piece of her pancake in her mouth before she answered, "maybe"

"Emma we don't talk with food in our mouth, we finish chewing and then we answer." Derek reminded her

"Sorry daddy." Emma said before taking another bite. They finished the meal in silence, Emma mouth was full for most of it and she was taking heed of her dad's words while Meredith and Derek each thought of their day.

"Oh Meredith, I invited Mark and Lexie for supper tonight." Derek said as he swallowed his last bite of food. Emma looked up at the mention of her aunt and uncle "I hope that's ok, He said that they had something that they wanted to tell us."

"It's fine, and I think Emma want to see her uncle Mark anyway." Emma nodded her head vigorously; Meredith popped the last piece of her pancake in her mouth. "I wander what they want to tell us."

"I don't know, maybe they moving, I know Mark was considering a job offer down in San Francisco."

Meredith frowned at the idea, she had discovered that it was really good to have a sister, of course Lexie would never be Christina but it was nice to do to someone and get serious advice without the sarcastic comments. When she and Derek fought she most preferred to seek Lexie advice as Christina never got on well with Him, tolerating Derek only for her person sake. Lexie allowed her to have her rant before showing her Derek side of the argument not that Meredith always listened right away. That wasn't to say that Lexie always took Derek side, no that would be Izzie. Lexie was able to rant about him some more, if Derek had been a real ass and hurt her sister. She guessed one could say that Lexie had just the right mix of Cristina and Izzie. But the point was Lexie was valuable to her. Then there was Mark, whenever Derek had had a bad day at work and didn't want to talk about it, she could count on Mark to take him up to the roof or even to act as Lexie did for Meredith when he and she fought.

"I hope not. Maybe she's pregnant." Meredith said as she took the plate away from Emma. " Emma, why don't you go upstairs to the bathroom, I'm going to come up now and help you brush your teeth ok?"

"Ok." Emma pushed herself off the chair and walked towards the door.

Derek watched Emma walk away before he too loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. "Pregnant? I don't think so; they wanted to wait until after Lexie had completed her residency besides they not even married."

Meredith scoffed, "Derek comes on, they been living together for 5 year, they act like a married couple and into today's day and age there are many people having babies out of wedlock. Besides this is Mark, reformed man-whore, I'm sure he and Lexie have sex more than once a day."

"ok we don't need to expand on that anymore." Derek shuddered at the thought of his best friends sex life and Meredith laughed at her husband's facial expression before he spoke again, "but I don't know Mark sounded very excited?"

"He would be Derek; it was Lexie that wanted to wait, not him. He has wanted kids for a long while especially once Emma was born but he respected the fact that she still had to finish her residency." Meredith said shutting the dishwasher.

"Hmm… I suppose you could be right." Derek said as they walked out the kitchen.

"So what are you making for supper tonight?" Meredith said changing the subject knowing that Lexie would tell them tonight.

"I don't know, I was thinking maybe macaroni and cheese or lasagne?"

Meredith turned to him, "As much as I would love lasagne. we had it when Richard and Adele were over and you going to be exhausted when you get home from work Derek and I can't cook."

"That's for certain, our poor guests, if you tried." Derek smirked and narrowly avoided his wife hand as she yelled exasperated, "Shut up, I'm serious."

I'll be fine Meredith, I can make lasagne."

"Macaroni will be fine Derek unless you have this undying need to make lasagne because then I guess lasagne would be fine but I know macaroni has like not been made for a while and I mean is macaroni not like Mark's favourite dish and Derek you make good macaroni so macaroni is fine. Derek you already made pancake today so macaroni is fine but if-"Meredith rambled pausing at the bottom of the stairs

"Meredith, Meredith, slow down," Derek said laughing as Meredith stopped midsentence. Meredith laughed realizing that she had been rambling " Ah now I can speak, Macaroni is fine, but I know that Lasagne is you favourite dish but I guess you got a point we did make it last week, so Mac and cheese, it is."

"Macaroni it is then and I'll buy some chocolate pudding and ice cream this afternoon then. I'll get strawberry for us girls and a small tub of coffee flavoured for you and mark." Meredith said as they walked up the last few stairs.

"My favourite," Derek said smiling,

"I know it's why I suggested it." Meredith said as she headed towards the bathroom to help Emma brush her teeth while Derek headed towards his bedroom to collect his things for the day.


End file.
